Indians Prospect Insider

Today we move on to the right-handed starting pitchers in our annual IBI positional rankings. It is no secret that the Indians have really struggled to draft and develop good starting pitching over the past two decades or so, but things look to be on the up as they have a good mixture of interesting upper level right-handed starters worth keeping an eye on as well as several high upside young, raw arms in the lower levels of the system. The IBI's Tony Lastoria ranks the Top 15 right-handed starting pitching prospects with scouting reports for names like Anderson, Plutko, Milbrath, Sulser, Colon, Peoples and more.

Despite winning their first home opener since 2008, the Indians pitching woes turned out to be too much for the offense to overcome, even after they scored seven runs on Sunday. Justin Masterson struggled with command as he gave up six runs (five earned) in three and two-thirds innings. Join the IBI's Jake Dungan as he gives his thoughts on the Twins taking the series with a 10-7 win.

The Indians continue to get good performances from a few of their top prospects in the early going, and have also had some lesser prospects contribute as well. In today's trip Around the Farm, the IB's Tony Lastoria takes a look at some hot days at the plate from Jesus Aguilar and Joey Wendle as well as some nice performances on the mound by Cole Sulser and others.

The Indians completed a minor trade on Sunday and acquired more Minor League pitching depth. In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andy Nichols will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on the Tommy John surgery trend now trickling down to top prospects, a potential injury for Yasiel Puig, and more.

The Akron RubberDucks rallied late, but fell just short losing 5-4 to the Binghamton Mets on Sunday to split the season opening series. In his season debut, starter Will Roberts made his return to the RubberDucks after a rocky 2013 season started 2014 much better giving Akron a good opportunity to come away with a win, but fell just short.

It was a rocky roller coaster ride that left your head spinning. A very winnable series turned sour Sunday, as Indians starters continue to struggle early on in 2014. After an up and down seesaw battle, Minnesota edged the Tribe, 9-7 to win the three-game weekend series. Join IBI Indians beat reporter Jim Berdysz as he recaps the action from the ballpark.

The Columbus Clippers could not avoid a sweep after falling to the Indianapolis Indians 8-3 on Sunday in front of 6,735 people at Huntington Park. Tyler Cloyd made his pitching debut with the Clippers, but struggled mightily resulting in the team's fourth consecutive loss. Columbus hopes to find their way into the win column on Monday as they host the Louisville Bats.

The college baseball season is entering its third month, and things are definitely starting to shape up. The top talents on both the high school and college level are asserting themselves, while other players are sliding some. Maybe it is just because of how weak last year was, but every week Jeff Ellis is more and more impressed by this class. Join Jeff as he releases his third mock draft.

Despite holding a two-run lead through seven innings, the Carolina Mudcats gave up five runs over the final two innings to fall to the Potomac Nationals 6-4 on Sunday afternoon. Making his Carolina League debut, right-hander Cole Sulser pitched admirably, giving up only one run and one hit over five innings, while striking out seven and walking just one batter.

Lake County (3-1) scored their only two runs of the game in the eighth inning, but it was just enough to top the Lansing Lugnuts 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at Classic Park. Lake County won the four game series with the victory on Sunday.

Throughout the year, we here at IBI bring you first-hand coverage of Cleveland's minor league system like nobody else. What we do not have as much of on the minor league side is statistical analysis. Until now. Join Jim Piascik as he introduces The WAR Room, a bi-weekly subscription feature starting soon on IBI that will use advanced metrics like WAR on minor leaguers. Today Jim introduces the concept and explains how this is going to work.

The Cleveland Indians' loss on Saturday to the Minnesota Twins wasn't totally shocking -by generous estimates, they had something like a 60% chance of winning the game. The offense never got untracked and Vinnie Pestano has struggled in the early going, but the IBI's John Grimm takes a positive outlook to Carlos Carrasco's outing...

The Indians are close to getting a couple of key players back in Michael Bourn and Jason Giambi. In this MLB News and Notes segment, the IBI's Andy Nichols will be giving occasional reports on the latest news and rumors throughout the MLB. Today's piece focuses on the Rays continuing to dish out extensions, an lingering injury problem for Ryan Braun, and more.

The Indians had an amazing three doubleheaders in the organization on Saturday, and their early season starting pitching struggles continued at Josh Tomlin and others were touched up in their season debuts. The IBI's Arthur Kinney recaps all the action in the farm system from Saturday...

The Carolina Mudcats took their early-season record back over .500 with a 3-1 win against Potomac Saturday. Ryan Merritt worked some magic, pitching six scoreless innings while Louis Head picked up the save. The Mudcats survived despite being outhit six to three in the game.

Hoping to get their first win of the season, the Columbus Clippers took on the Indianapolis Indians in a Saturday double header. The attempt fell short as Columbus lost both games. Brett Brach pitched a solid game two, finishing four innings without giving up an earned run, but still found himself tagged with the loss.

After missing out on Friday action due to weather, the Akron RubberDucks split a double header with the Binghamton Mets Saturday. Akron lost 6-3 in the first game, but took a 3-0 shutout in game No. 2. Toru Murata tossed five shutout innings of three-hit ball to highlight the day.

Lake County Captains manager Mark Budzinski led his team to its first two wins of the season, and the first two if his professional career. Jordan Milbrath pitched a complete-game shutout in game two after the Captains came back from a big deficit to win game one. Both contests were shortened to seven innings, but that's all Lake County needed to finish the day unscathed.

He may have had an option, but he may not be the best option. Five runs on five hits through the first three innings Saturday proved more than enough for the Twins against Tribe starter Carlos Carrasco (0-1, 6.35 ERA), as Minnesota cruised to an easy 7-3 victory Saturday afternoon. Join IBI Indians beat reporter Jim Berdysz as he recaps the action from the ballpark.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!